<p>
  A vast amount of research studies have been published which document mixed results when utilizing technical 
  analysis to forecast future prices of securities. The Ichimoku Cloud, one of the most widely-used technical 
  indicators in Japan, was first publicized by Goichi Hosoda. In 1996, Hidenobu Sasaki reworked the framework to 
  form the current charting analysis tool. This indicator is composed of 5 lines in a time series, each of which 
  are described mathematically in 
  <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/ichimoku-cloud.asp">online resources</a>.
</p>

<p>
  Gurrib (2020) finds that applying a simple trading strategy using the time series of the Ichimoku Cloud can 
  increase the mean return of a basket containing the top energy stocks from 21.5% (buy-and-hold) to 194% over a 7 
  year period. The components of the Ichimoku Cloud that Gurrib (2020) utilizes in this strategy are the Chikou 
  Span, Senkou Span A, and Senkou Span B. The Senkou Span lines form the top and bottom of the Ichimoku Cloud. The 
  strategy that we trade off of these lines is defined as follows:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>Long when the Chikou line crosses the top of the cloud from below.</li>
  <li>Short when the Chikou line crosses the bottom of the cloud from above.</li>
</ul>

<p>
  For better understanding, here is a visualization of the price of XOM, it's Ichimoku Cloud time series, and the 
  resulting buy/sell signals.
</p>

<img class="img-responsive" 
     src="https://cdn.quantconnect.com/i/tu/xom-trading-signals.png" 
     alt="Tutorial1028-ichimoku-cloud-1" /> 

<p>
  Note: all of the plots throughout this tutorial are reproducible in the attached research notebook, along with 
  some descriptive statistics for securities in the universe.
</p>